School Board candidates battle in run-off

Just 3 percentage points in the primary election separated two District 7 School Board candidates who are in a run-off race.

"Oh, I think I'm the clear frontrunner in the race," Jason Fischer said.

Fischer won more votes in the primary. The Jacksonville native is an engineer for the transportation company CSX.

Fischer calls himself a "concerned dad" who is ready to hit the ground running.

"I got active as a parent advocate on pushing for pay performances for teachers, ending teacher tenure, and very specifically, increasing school choice options for parents. That's a big issue for me," Fischer said.

His opponent, Jon Heymann, already works directly with schools. Heymann is a former high school history teacher who eventually moved to Jacksonville to develop a dropout prevention program called "Communties in Schools."

He's a father of three and considers himself a candidate with experience.

"Once I realized that we can take high performing, high poverty and make them high-performing schools, I knew we could do it for all 170 schools," Heymann said. "So I entered the race for that sheer reason."

Both candidates agree the budget will be one of the biggest issues to tackle, each saying they can bring something different to the table.

"I have 30 years experience working with children," Heymann said. "Education has been my calling, it's been my career, it's been my commitment. I have not sought any other office such as my opponent has."

"If you want somebody that is going to be very effective as well as independent from the school system, I think that they should vote for me based on that," Fischer said.

For more information on the two candidates, click on the Voter's Guide.

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